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Two years ago Pakistan's Punjab province was hit with one of the world's worst dengue outbreaks. This year the number of recorded cases has plummeted. Many leaders credit a mobile phone app that tracks mosquito populations and city workers' efforts to contain them.
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After decades without any reported cases, dengue fever seems to be getting a foothold in the U.S. In 2009, it surfaced in Key West. This year, 18 cases have been reported this summer in Martin County, Fla.
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Dengue fever was commonplace in Florida until the 1930s. Air conditioning, window screens and better mosquito control helped break the dengue cycle. Now the mosquito-borne illness is back.
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There could be as many as 400 million dengue infections worldwide each year, making it more common than malaria, according to a new study. One reason for the huge increase in estimated infections is that dengue has been spreading far and wide to regions outside the tropics.
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Decades after its eradication, the "breakbone fever" has become endemic again in the Florida Keys. Scientists say that Floridians infected during a recent outbreak didn't catch the virus abroad but rather got a dengue strain that's unique to Key West.
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In a study with about 4,000 Thai schoolchildren, a vaccine for dengue fever works well against some strains of the dengue virus. But the overall level of protection was lower than hoped for. The results suggest that a vaccine for dengue fever can be developed eventually.
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Australian researcher Scott O'Neill is leading a charge to rid the world of dengue fever. And it's a real team sport, he says: "We don't work in isolation in any projects in science these days. The days of having someone beavering away by themselves in the backroom have long gone."
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Scott O'Neill's big idea to rid the world of dengue is both clever and complex: He wants to infect mosquitoes with bacteria so they can't carry the virus that causes the disease. But, it turns out sticking mosquito eggs with a needle full of bacteria isn't easy. "It's incredibly frustrating work," he says.
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Dengue fever, a nasty disease caused by a virus, is just beginning to show up in the U.S. It's carried from person to person by mosquitoes, and one researcher studying the spread is looking for clues in the age of the insects. But it's not very easy to tell how old a mosquito is.
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Scientists infected hundreds of thousands of mosquitoes with a mild strain of a bacterium. They believe that once mosquitoes are sick from the infection, they can't spread the dengue virus to humans.